


The Fifteenth Time

by canadiankazz



Series: Times Jasper Fed from Annabelle [15]
Category: Vampire: The Masquerade, Vampire: The Masquerade - L.A. By Night (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Blood Drinking, Brujah (Vampire: The Masquerade), F/M, Fluff and Angst, Massage, Nosferatu (Vampire: The Masquerade), Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-11-29 06:47:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18219641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/canadiankazz/pseuds/canadiankazz
Summary: Jasper takes Annabelle to his grave and they discover something distressing there.SPOILERS for the end of Campaign 1, the one-shots, and up to and including Episode 7 of Season 2. This fic is part of an AU series where Jasper has been feeding from Annabelle and they now have a Blood Bond and a slow burn romantic relationship. This was written before the author saw Episode 8 of Season 2. It’s obviously worth reading the rest of the "Feeds From" series before this part.





	The Fifteenth Time

**Author's Note:**

> Episode 7 of Season 2 "Red Flags," had a lot of talk about graves, what with over half the episode taking place in a cemetery. That got me thinking about Jasper's grave and how it might be interesting to see that. I was also thinking about Chloe's investigative arc in season 2 and what she might do if she were upset and obsessive enough.
> 
> As always, I lay no claim to owning any of the characters involved, and my eternal thanks to everyone who has read and enjoyed my fic. Thanks to L and M for editing, inspiration, and encouraging me to write "fee fees."

“I have something I want to show you.”

Annabelle had noticed that Jasper had been very quiet this evening, more so than perhaps usual. “Sure,” she said. “What is it?”

He licked his fangs in nervous habit. “It's um... my grave.”

Annabelle's eyebrows rose. It was certainly not something she had expected him to say. She knew that his death had been faked. Well, 'faked' was the wrong word. Jasper was dead, there was no denying that, but he was still walking and talking and very much _not_ in his grave. Neither she, nor the others in their coterie were listed in any kind of official records as having died, save for Jasper.

“Oh, um, sure, if you'd like. Um... why?” Annabelle inquired.

Jasper shrugged. He seemed very downcast. He had a lot on his mind and most of it wasn't good. “I don't know,” he said quietly. “I've been doing a lot of thinking. I just... well, you've been wanting to know more about me, and there is a lot that I still don't want to tell you, but I think this is something I can share with you... if you'd like.”

Annabelle nodded. “Sure, Jasper. Is it... are we coming up to an anniversary?”

He knew what type of anniversary she meant. He shook his head. “No. I died in November.”

November was still many months away from when they were at now, but Annabelle realised that she had known him while the anniversary of his death had come and gone and he hadn't said anything about it. Well, why would he have? Especially because he hadn't known her that well back then.

“Should I bring anything? Do you want me to leave flowers?” Annabelle asked with a tiny hint of humour.

Jasper shook his head again. “No, it's fine.”

“Right, well, I can always just give you flowers. You like roses, right?” she smiled at him and, despite himself, he smiled back, just a tiny bit.

“I know _you_ like pink ones,” he said, remembering Eva's gift to her. “If you ever get a grave, I'll leave some for you.”

“Aww. That's sweet. Morbid, but sweet.”

“Annabelle, I'm taking you to see my grave,” he reminded her. “'Morbid' is a little moot at this point.”

Jasper led Annabelle to a small cemetery in eastern L.A. The gate was locked, but Jasper had no intention of going in that way anyway. He took Annabelle around the side, over by some tall trees that provided some shade for the graves and the people who visited them. The trees also provided some cover for stealth. The fence was twelve feet tall and topped with spikes to deter people breaking in at night. It would not deter Jasper though.

Annabelle eyed the spikes with a little nervousness. “Are we going to climb over?”

“No,” Jasper said, judging the height and distance and making mental calculations. “I'm going to jump.”

“I can't jump that high.”

“Yeah, I know. _I'm_ going to jump. I'll carry you.”

Jasper crouched down, presenting his back to Annabelle. She smiled and climbed on. He held her, piggy-back style, his arms and hands supporting her legs as she clung to his neck and shoulders.

“Don't drop me, please,” she said, trying not to sound nervous. She could take a basic fall, but she didn't like the look of those spikes at the top of the fence. Annabelle figured she could survive the impalement, but it would be very painful.

Jasper smiled over his shoulder at her. “I’d never drop you. Never.”

Annabelle felt his muscles tense in preparation for the soaring leap. She squeezed her eyes shut tight. Jasper leapt, clearing the height easily and landing quietly on the well-manicured lawn on the other side. Annabelle giggled softly despite herself.

“That was kind of fun,” she whispered.

Jasper knelt to let her down. “Well, we'll have to do it again to get out. Now... we'll have to be quiet. There might be a security guard, but I doubt it.”

Annabelle nodded. “Okay.”

Jasper lead the way again. He had only been here once before, not long after his embrace, but he remembered the way. One of the other Nosferatu had taken him here when they told him that he had been interred – or at least, that an empty coffin had been buried and a headstone with his name on it was in place. His grave was towards the back and off to the side, away from heavy traffic. Annabelle tried not to think of it as a 'forgotten' corner of the cemetery, but it sure seemed that way. They approached it from behind, unable to read any of the names on the stones unless they looked back behind them. For the sake of making sure Annabelle didn't lose him in the dark, Jasper did not activate Obfuscate, but he did move silently. Annabelle tiptoed, almost as quiet as he was.

Jasper's headstone was a small, simple curve of dark granite. They came around a corner and there it was. There was no flowery epithet, no Bible quotes, not even a “Beloved Son,” just his name and two years sandblasted into the smooth, dark grey stone.

 

**Jasper Heartwood  
** **1989 – 2013**

 

Annabelle didn't know what her reaction was going to be upon seeing it. She was struck by a wave of sadness. It was a simple, inexpensive grave. Not that having a big, fancy tomb would have meant he was any less loved in life, but there was something about it that was still monumentally heart breaking. Annabelle used the light from her phone to read the inscription clearly. She reached out to touch the stone, but hesitated. She glanced back at Jasper, as if for permission.

Jasper was standing back, not as close to the grave as Annabelle was. His face was a blank, unreadable mask. He did not like being here. He did not need any reminders of his current circumstance or what he had lost, but it was still, in an odd way, a part of him. He was sharing his existence with Annabelle at the moment. He wanted her to see this, and he wanted to be here when she did, and so here he was.

“May I?” she asked.

He shrugged, genuinely not caring if she touched it or not, but there was something still nice about her asking permission. “Sure.”

Annabelle traced the letters of his name with her fingers. She could feel tears prickle her eyes and wiped them on her sleeve. “I'm surprised it doesn't say more. Why doesn't it say 'rest in peace'?”

“I don't know. I didn't pick it,” Jasper said, “and whoever did obviously didn't have much to say about me. To be fair though, I'm _not_ resting in peace.”

Annabelle sniffled and chuckled. “That's true.” She was quiet for another moment, thinking. “I never knew you back when... we were alive, but... I'd like to think we would have been friends if we did.”

“Maybe,” he said softly. He sounded like he doubted it. He and Annabelle had run in very different social circles at college.

Annabelle frowned, spotting something odd on the surface of the granite. She increased the brightness of her phone light slightly and brought it a little closer to the stone. There was a reddish mark that was only just visible. It wasn’t blood. The shade of red was too bright.

“What is it?” Jasper asked.

“It looks almost like... there was paint or something on it, but it was washed off? You can still see it faintly. Look,” Annabelle pointed and Jasper stepped forward, squinting critically at the bright light. “Could have been... letters?”

Jasper snarled softly in irritation. Had someone actually defaced his grave? It made him more angry than he thought it would.

Annabelle traced the very faint red marks on the stone where the paint had been washed off. It did seem to have been letters; four letters, in fact, and underlined:

 

**F A K E**

 

“'Fake'?” Annabelle read out loud. She looked at Jasper, confused. “Why would anyone spray paint 'fake' on your grave?” Her eyes went wide with dreadful realisation. “Do you think someone knows that you're not, you know... buried here?”

Jasper bared his teeth and swore. “Shit...”

“You told me that you had written a note...” Annabelle said slowly in dawning horror, “to someone who thought you were dead. Was it your girlfriend?”

“Yes,” he hissed.

“Would she do something like this?” Annabelle gestured back to the grave.

His first instinct was so say no, but then he remembered what Chloe could be like when she was obsessed with something. She got very irritable and irrational until whatever problem she was working on was solved. That said, she wouldn't go so far as to deface a grave... would she? “I wouldn’t think so.”

“When was the last time you saw her?”

“Before Thanksgiving. When I gave her... that note.”

“Who else...?” Annabelle wondered out loud. “Who else might know?”

“I don't know,” Jasper growled, angry. His mind raced. Maybe it was Chloe's friends? No... they weren't the types to do this either. His family? No. He hadn’t seen or heard from any of them since he had left for college. There were reasons why Chloe was the only mortal he had cared about for a long time after he became Kindred. He glanced around at the other graves. None of them appeared to have been marked like his had been. This had been a deliberate, targeted action.

Annabelle looked back at Jasper’s grave, sad and confused. “Well, someone seems to know, or thinks they know,” she sighed. “Maybe we can ask around? It might have made the news. Are any of the others painted on too?”

“No. Just mine,” Jasper said. He was worried now about Chloe. He had hoped that she would be even safer now that he wasn't involved in watching the college any more, but it looked like she was still getting herself into trouble chasing some clue about his death or disappearance.  “Let's go. I need to make a phone call.”

Their walk back towards the fence was a lot faster than their one towards the grave had been. Once again, Jasper knelt and let Annabelle climb onto his back. He leapt over the fence and let her down safely on the other side. Jasper used the darkness of the trees to cover him while he dug out his phone and called Ramona. Annabelle stood nearby, fretting.

“Hey Jaaaaasper,” Ramona said in a teasing tone when she answered. “What's up? You want a threesome? Because I am _not_ down.”

Jasper growled, really not in the mood for this. “Ramona, I need to ask you something. It's important and it's NOT about that.”

“Fine, but before you do, you owe Meg an apology.”

“I- what?” Jasper blinked, his train of thought derailed.

“Meg. The rat you yeeted across the park.” Jasper heard Ramona laugh to herself. “'Yeet,' I like that word. It's what the kids are saying these days instead of 'throw.' But seriously, you need to say sorry to her. She hurt her leg.”

Jasper clenched his jaw so hard his molars hurt. “Ramona -”

“I will answer any questions you want if you say sorry,” Ramona said. “Here, I'll hold her up to the phone so she can hear you... or do you _want_ me to call Victor and tell him about everything Meg heard and saw in your gross little sex dungeon?”

Jasper closed his eyes, forcing himself to count to ten and willing his Beast to stop raging. Annabelle was watching him, her face lined with concern. She was wringing her hands.

Jasper ran his tongue slowly over his fangs, wishing now he had killed that rat back when he had caught it in his sanctum in the first place. “Fine, Ramona... put Meg on,” he said in a slow, falsely sweet voice.

Annabelle frowned, very confused. “Meg?” she whispered.

Jasper held up a finger to beg her patience. He could hear muffled scraping on the other end of the phone line and a chittering, like rodent teeth near the phone speaker. “I'm sorry,” he said through gritted teeth.

There was more scraping and rat squeaking on the other end, then Ramona's voice came back. “There, was that so hard? Now, what's up, Jasper?”

“Remember that person I asked you to keep an eye on when you took over watching Griffith College for us?”

“Yeah... why?”

“Do you know where she is right now?”

Ramona hesitated. “Uh...”

Jasper didn't like the sound of that. Once again, he had to force his Beast to keep calm.

“Actually, I haven't seen her for a few weeks,” Ramona confessed.

Jasper felt like his stomach had dropped out. If he were not already grey, he would have lost all colour in his skin.

“But the rat pack have!” Ramona said quickly. “The last time the rat pack saw her, she had gone to a police station and then went home again,” Ramona continued. “That was a few nights ago. I can make them look again?”

“Yes, please do,” Jasper snarled.

“Okay, on it. I'll text you when they find something.”

“Thanks,” he hissed. “And one more thing...”

“Yeah?”

“You wouldn’t be able to look into reports of anyone defacing graves at East Los Angeles Cemetery, would you?”

“Uh, sure,” Ramona said hesitantly. “I'll see if I can dig anything up.”

“Much appreciated.”

“Anything else?” Ramona asked, hoping that there was nothing.

“That's all for now,” Jasper said tightly.

“Okay. I'll text you later.”

“Good bye.” Jasper hung up and resisted the urge to crush the phone in his hand.

“Is everything okay? Who's Meg?” Annabelle asked.

“The rat I... threw,” Jasper was not going to say the slang for it. “The one that was spying on us. Ramona made me apologise to it.”

“Well, to be fair...”Annabelle started.

Jasper glared at her.

“Sorry, sorry,” Annabelle said, backtracking. “What did Ramona say?”

“Apparently,” Jasper sighed, “the rats saw her, my girlfriend, go to a police station recently. Ramona is going to text me when she knows more.”

“So... it could have been her who spray painted your grave.”

“Yeah, it could have been, especially if she were caught doing it.”

Annabelle reached out to hold his hand. He didn't pull away from her. She could feel his tension. No need for a Blood Bond to tell her what he was going through emotionally. She gave him a gentle squeeze, trying to be reassuring.

“Come on,” she said gently. “Let's go home.”

Jasper nodded. No use just standing here next to the cemetery all night. He let Annabelle lead him back to the street and they began their trip back towards his sanctum.

“Thank you... for showing me that. I'm sorry it upset you though,” Annabelle said softly.

“So long as she is fine, I'll be fine,” Jasper said.

Annabelle nodded.

They were quiet all the way back to the L.A. River and Jasper's front door. Ramona texted him just as they were opening it.

“She's alive. Got eyes on her. Will look into the grave thing tomorrow.”

Jasper sighed in relief as he read it.

“Is she okay?” Annabelle asked.

Jasper nodded, his worry starting to drain away. “Well, she's alive at least.”

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Annabelle said. “I don't know if it was her who defaced your grave, but... if she thought that your death was fake because of that note and she was really upset about it, she might-”

“Look, I already know it was a stupid thing to write her that note!” he snapped, slamming the door shut behind them.

Annabelle looked startled at his outburst, then her face softened. “I'm sorry, Jasper,” she said quietly. “I can't judge you for writing that note. I would have done the same, you know that. I know you miss her. You've had it the hardest of all of us. It's not fair.”

He sighed again, calming down. “No... it's not fair at all.”

Annabelle touched his arm in sympathy and they headed into the sanctum itself.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked him when they got there.

“Not really, no,” Jasper replied.

“Okay. At least she's okay, right? Ramona will keep an eye on her.”

Jasper grunted softly, agreeing.

Annabelle was thinking, a plan forming in her head. “I want to do something nice for you, because this hasn't been the best night mood-wise.”

He side-eyed her as they came into his haven. “What are you planing?”

“Would you like a massage?” Annabelle offered.

Jasper's brow furrowed. It wasn’t quite what he was expecting her to say. “Sure, I guess?”

“You haven't had one in five years, I'm guessing.”

“That is correct.”

“Okay. Um... hoodie off, and get on the bed face-down.”

He smirked a tiny bit. Usually, he was the one asking Annabelle to take her clothes off. It also wasn’t that long ago when he would have protested getting any kind of nude around her, or around anyone, really. A lot had happened between now and then. Also, this was a direct order from his regnant, and his blood pulled at him to obey through their Bond.

Jasper stripped to the waist and stretched out on his stomach on the bed, his face pressed against a pillow and his arms folded under the pillow.

“I wish we had some body butter,” he heard Annabelle say as she took off her jacket and rolled up her sleeves. “But I guess we'll just go without this time. If you like it though, we can do this again. I used to rub Mark and Elle's backs all the time.”

Jasper closed his eyes with another soft grunt. He was non-committal at this point, but open to the possibility of future massages if this one went well. Annabelle turned on some of their battery-operated candles and put some gentle acoustic music playing on her phone to set the calm, semi-romantic mood she wanted.

Annabelle climbed onto the bed and contemplated Jasper's bare back. The black veins were like inter-lacing spider webs branching out from along his spine, which was fairly pronounced on his slim frame. She flexed her fingers and gently straddled his lean hips to get at the best angle. She decided to start with his upper back and shoulders and work her way down. She got to work, stroking and pressing and kneading his undead muscles. Jasper's skin was dry and a little coarse. Again, Annabelle wished for some kind of moisturiser, but didn't mention it. She was sure it probably wouldn’t work long on Nosferatu skin anyway. She grimaced a little but kept going. “How's that?”

Jasper had to be honest, it felt a lot better than he thought it would. “Good,” he growled softly.

“Good,” Annabelle smiled, pleased that her minor discomfort was worth it. She kept going, working her way down his spine. He snarled very quietly to himself. Annabelle pressed hard and Jasper seemed to like it. He winced, but it was in the pain of a good massage.

“I'm not... so optimistic to believe that you and I will be together forever,” Annabelle said softly as she worked on his lower back, using her thumbs to rub in slow circles. “I've learned that lesson the hard way, and… even though we could live forever, kind of, these are dangerous times. But... while we _are_ together, Jasper, I want to try to give you as many nice memories as I can. I know that you've got lots of years of horrible ones, so... let's try to even that up a little bit.”

“You already have given me lots of good memories.” Jasper shifted and glanced back at her over his shoulder. He was struck by a sudden memory from when he was alive of Chloe rubbing his back just like this after a stressful exam. He told Annabelle what he had told Chloe then. “You're too good for me.”

“Aww. That's sweet but I don’t think it’s true that I’m too good for you.” Annabelle leaned forward and planted three soft little kisses along Jasper’s spine. “And do _not_ start on your 'I've done bad things,' speech, not without at least telling me some of those bad things.”

Jasper shrugged. He wasn't going to tell Annabelle anything he didn't have to. He relaxed back to enjoy the end of the massage.

“Are you hungry?” she asked him after a few more minutes

“A little, but...”

“But... you're not really in the mood?” Annabelle guessed. She thought that was a shame. She had been looking forward to the potential of more sexy times, but clearly Jasper was not up for it tonight.

“Not really, no,” he confirmed.

“That's okay. We don't have to go all out with the Blush of Life and... the sex and all that every time. How about just a sip?”

Jasper's Beast snarled and whispered in his chest. It had been denied several times already this night. He relented. It was too hard sometimes to say no to both Annabelle and his Beast at the same time. “Just a sip,” he sighed.

“Okay,” Annabelle got up off of him and flexed her fingers again. “You want your hoodie?”

“Yes, please.”

Annabelle scooped it off the floor and passed it to Jasper. He sat up and pulled it on, but left the hood down and his head exposed.

“How does your back feel?” she asked.

Jasper gave her a little smile. “Good, thank you.” He flexed and twisted, making his spine, shoulders and neck crackle and pop. Annabelle winced.

“Doesn't that hurt when you do that?”

Jasper shook his head. “Nope.”

She eyed his bare head. “Um... do you like scalp massages?”

“I used to love them, but-”

“You haven't had one in five years,” Annabelle concluded. She adjusted the pillows and sat on the bed with her back against the wall. “Put your head in my lap.”

It was another direct order that he didn't deny. He lay back on the bed, face-up this time, with his head resting on Annabelle's thighs. He bent his knees up and crossed his hands over his stomach, getting comfortable. This was another thing Chloe used to do for him, back when he was alive and had short hair to fuzz. He remembered how it used to help him relax fall asleep when he was stressed.

Annabelle ran her fingernails gently over his hairless scalp. They made a faint scraping sound over his dead skin. She ignored it and massaged gently with her right hand, her other hand coming to rest over his chest. He watched their flickering shadows on the wall in the artificial candlelight. She watched his face, looking for signs of him relaxing and finding them. He was certainly no longer tense, but there was a lingering sadness and anxiety that was seeping through. She could see it in his cold, white-blue eyes. She knew that if they were in front of the rest of the coterie, he might have hidden that emotion, but in front of her in the privacy of his haven - _their_ haven – he let it show.

Jasper's chest was perfectly still and lacking any signs of life, save for the very occasional deliberate sigh as he relaxed a little more. Eventually his eyes drifted closed. _Apparently,_ he thought, _some things just don’t change._

Annabelle thought for a moment that she may have put him to sleep, but when she swapped hands so that her left hand was rubbing his scalp instead, he shifted and stirred.

“Sleepy?” she asked.

“Not really,” he lied, his eyes still closed.

“There's still hours until dawn. Want to watch something? Or read?”

“We'll find something,” he mumbled.

“Sure. But first... your sip.”

Jasper cracked an eye open and looked up at her. She gave him a sly smile and showed him her free wrist. It had the bracelet he had made and given her around it.

“Yes?” Annabelle asked.

“Yes,” Jasper confirmed. He brought his hands up to hold her hand and arm in front of his face, making sure to keep her bracelet out of the way. She let him guide her wrist to his mouth. Annabelle prepared herself for the pain to come. Jasper opened his mouth and made a small, careful bite. Annabelle winced at the pain and and willed her Vitae forward. She didn't normally get to watch him feed, but she did this time. Scarlet blood dripped down and he caught it neatly with his tongue. He let her bleed freely for a few moments, then closed his lips around the wound and suckled gently. His Adam’s apple moved as he swallowed. That felt _good_ and Annabelle sighed, stroking the top of his head with her other hand. Her stomach fluttered.

Jasper only fed for a few seconds before Annabelle felt him lick her wrist tenderly to close the wound. Her Beast grumbled its usual complaints about the loss of Vitae and she shushed it. She was helping Jasper and she felt good doing it. Annabelle bent her head down and placed an upside-down kiss gently on his forehead. Jasper let her wrist go free and looked up at her with a little smile.

“Thank you,” he whispered. “You taste good, as always.”

Annabelle stroked his cheek. “Thank you. It's an odd compliment, but a sweet one.”

“It's true though,” Jasper sighed, content.

“What do you want to do now? You want to watch something?”

“Sure, but I don't want to get up.”

She smiled. “Too comfy?”

“Yes,” he said with a light snarl.

Annabelle reached for her phone and turned off the music that was playing. They watched stupid, silly videos on YouTube – news bloopers, Vine compilations and the like. Annabelle continued to stroke and massage Jasper's scalp as they passed the time. He definitely seemed to enjoy it, and Annabelle made a mental note that he liked this kind of thing. Jasper had been both touch starved and touch abhorrent for too long.

After a while, Annabelle noticed that Jasper’s eyes were closed again and he had stopped responding. He had fallen asleep. Annabelle bit her lip, slightly overwhelmed at how adorable she found this. She checked the time. It was nearly dawn and she was tired herself. She wished she didn't have to move, but she did. Very carefully, doing her best not to disturb him too much, Annabelle slipped out from under him and placed several pillows in where her legs had been under Jasper's head and neck. His knees were still bent up and she straightened his legs out into a more comfortable-looking position. Jasper was limp, cold and unbreathing. He growled faintly in his sleep, then stilled and become corpse-like again. Annabelle tried not to think about it too much. The fact that technically both she and Jasper were dead was something that still made her uncomfortable. Annabelle plugged her phone in to charge and found his phone to charge as well. She went around and turned off the battery candles before settling back into bed in the dark room.

Annabelle watched Jasper sleep for a few minutes in the dim light of her phone screen. She thought about their visit to his grave. She found it incredibly sad that he even _had_ a grave in the first place, let alone one that was so stark and unadorned. Just a first and last name and two years written on his gravestone. That was all. It reeked to her of being a rush job. They hadn't even bothered to put his full birth or death dates on it. She wondered if his girlfriend had ever left flowers on his grave, and also if she were really the one who had defaced it earlier. Annabelle hoped she was alright, wherever she was and whatever she was doing. Jasper had enough troubles without worrying about her as well.

The phone eventually went dark and the light disappeared. Annabelle sighed and snuggled up next to Jasper's very still body. A few minutes later, she was asleep too.

**Author's Note:**

> An alternative title for this fic, had it not been a part of my "Feeds From" series, would have been 'Rest in Peace.' 
> 
> Also, Meg the rat, in an alternative universe of this alternative universe, was the one who defaced Jasper's grave in a bid to get revenge for him yeeting her.


End file.
